Mobile Phone Blog:

Now then, I’d call this a good thing, I would. T-Mobile, the network I’ve long described as the big, pink network (even though their logo is magenta… I just like the wince every single T-Mobile rep gives, when you say their logo’s pink), has only gone and decided to do something that’s bound to put the cat amongst the pigeons in the headquarters of every other network in Blighty.

Yes, according to Mobile Industry Review, they’ve only gone and introduced a range of really, properly, actually unlimited monthly tariffs, and they’ve called that package The Full Monty. As in meaning “everything”, not “your phone will get nekkid, and throw its carry case into the audience”. Obviously. That would be silly… (more…)

I know a couple of people are looking forward to getting their hands on the LG Prada 3.0, myself included (in my case, I’m intrigued whether a fashion phone can actually be a good smartphone, y’see), and ever since it was launched, they (and I) have been waiting for news of when it’d be released. Well now, thanks to Unwired View, we know.

February. That’s when it’s set to actually go on sale, so put it in your diaries, folks. And as for which network it’ll be on, the answer to that one is T-Mobile. There’s no word on whether it’ll appear on any other networks, but yeah, T-Mobile’s getting it next month.

So, why do I want to see it so bad? (more…)

Now then, there’s been a bleedin’ massive kerfuffle going on in the world of mobile phones over the past week, and it’s all to do with something called CarrierIQ. Why are people getting so worked up? Well, on the face of it, it seems like CarrierIQ is snooping on what users do with their phones, before pinging all that data back to the mothership. That, in itself, would be bad enough, but the software purportedly also logs your keystrokes and reads your text messages.

Er, blimey, that is big, if it’s true! However, there’s one thing I should point out, right off the bat. Engadget has a report on various companies’ official statements on the matter, and one thing immediately stood out to me.

It seems be the case that if you live over here in Blighty, or anywhere apart from America, come to that, then the answer to the question in the title is no, you’re not being snooped on. Which is a good thing… (more…)

Right, I did a blog post a few weeks back, about Google Wallet, the search giant’s brand NFC-powered mobile payment thingie. You know, it’s the one where you wave your phone at a terminal, exactly like you would with an Oyster Card (NFC… same tech, y’see), to pay for stuff; it’s due to hit the UK at some point, although no-one has any idea when.

However, according to the Engadget, the UK networks have decided to try and trump Google Wallet at its own game, before Google even unveil the service over here. Specifically, Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere (made up of Orange and T Mobile) have said that they’re working on their own NFC-powered mobile payment system. (more…)

Ooh, now then, just like the title says: what’s this? Why, I do believe it’s a phone I’ve never, ever seen before; furthermore, it appears to be a phone with a neat new touch on the “side-sliding QWERTY” formula. As you can see, in the pic from PocketLint, it’s a side-sliding QWERTY phone, running on Android, but with a twist; it’s a second screen, slap bang in the middle of the keyboard.

Oh, and as you can also clearly see, it’s an LG phone, which explains why I’m getting a really strong ‘LG Venus’ vibe from it. That second screen seems to function as some kind of dedicated app launcher, with eight slots on it, where you can put any shortcuts ye like. However, that doesn’t answer the big question: what is this thing? (more…)

The Motorola Atrix is to be exclusive to the Everything Everywhere network when it launches in the UK.

The handset, co-developed by Orange and Motorola, will be available exclusively on the Orange and T-Mobile networks which merged together last year to make Everything Everywhere.

The 11 inch, 1GHz dual-core Android smartphone is expected to upgrade to Gingerbread, the latest version of the Android OS, after its release.

Although a UK release date has not yet been confirmed the device is already available in the US.

The Nexus S from Google is now on sale through Carphone Warehouse in the UK and it will set you back either £30-a-month or £429.99.

The Android 2.3 packing phone was meant to launch on Monday but faced a last minute delay and price drop.

As well as running Android 2.3, the phone has a four-inch curved Super AMOLED display, 1GHz processor, a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), 16GB of internal memory, a five-megapixel camera with LED flash and Google Maps.

(more…)

The HTC Desire HD promised to be a massive Christmas winner for HTC but it appears sales may be hindered by extremely low stock levels in the UK.

Vodafone and Orange, two of the four networks ranging the smartphone, say they only have ‘limited stock’ on their website.

Confusingly, Orange’s website also says that the HTC Desire HD is also ‘out of stock’.

However, T-Mobile and Three don’t have any notices about stock issues on their websites, despite earlier reports that T-Mobile also had ‘limited stock’. (more…)

T-Mobile is offering customers the chance to not pay their line rental in January if they sign-up for a Pay Monthly contract.

The offer aimed at winning customers over and easing the burden come the New Year stops on 5 December.

It covers all Pay Monthly tariffs no matter what the phone or what your budget is – from the iPhone 4 to the Nokia 1661.

Other high-end phones include the Nokia N8 with its flash 12-megapixel camera, the Android-packing Samsung Galaxy S and a Windows Phone 7 original, the Samsung Omnia 7 – all are free on £35-a-month contracts. (more…)

The HTC Desire HD is available for pre-order with some networks and retailers but when will it be shipping?

There’s much disagreement over the phone’s actual shipping date but the latest reports indicate it could be the end of the month, the 25 October to be precise, according to Amazon UK. (more…)